


Forever

by maebyrutherford (maeberutherford)



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Blood, Character Death, F/M, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-15
Updated: 2015-07-15
Packaged: 2018-04-09 13:19:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4350302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maeberutherford/pseuds/maebyrutherford
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cullen and Ellana's time by the lake goes horribly wrong.</p>
<p>Tumblr sentence prompt: "I thought you were dead"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Forever

Cullen lay awake, staring up at the stars and mentally tracing the constellations he was familiar with. Normally he would have been distressed at his inability to slumber yet again, but he found true bliss in this moment; the steady rippling of the lake, the chirping insects, the slightly prickly feel of the grass poking into his back from underneath the blanket, the comforting sound of her steady breathing next to him.

“Draconis,” he said softly to himself upon identification, and he turned to gaze upon her. Her beauty took on a different form when she was asleep; her long ears were relaxed, given respite from constantly attuning to the world around her, her vallaslin was in its truest shape, her mask of the fighting leader of the Inquisition was stripped away, leaving just Ellana there, vulnerable but never weak.

He reached out for another reassuring touch - even after all this time, he needed it - when he heard the strangled cries of his soldiers in the distance.

“Ellana!” he cried while he rolled off of the blanket and slapped his hand around the hilt of his sword, always kept close.

Cullen leapt to his feet, throwing the sheathe to the ground. By the time he spun around she was already on her feet as well, daggers in hand. They took a second to look at each other, wild-eyed and alert.

“Assassins?” she hissed, scanning their surroundings. She would see them long before he would.

“Think so,” he whispered. “Probably dual-wield. Be ready.” He thought helplessly about their lack of armor; he in just his smalls and she in his tunic. There was no time to suit up.

The battle-seasoned lovers backed up to the lake, arms at the ready, waiting.

“Two, flanking - on your right!” was all she had time to say before she ran off, daggers raised high, and even though he couldn’t see anyone he focused on the area to his right and held his sword aloft. He heard the grunts of combat in the distance when the assassin rushed him, not from his right but the left.

He had no time to think about how they were able to change course so quickly as he swung his blade toward his target, feeling it catch in flesh and hearing the cry of agony from the enemy at the same time he saw the dagger puncture his exposed thigh.

The dead assassin slumped to the ground as he yanked his blade free. Cullen pressed his hand over his wound as his mind raced to find a solution to slow the rapid bleeding. He yanked the cloth wrapped around the assassin’s face free and quickly tied it tightly just above the split flesh.

He suddenly registered the silence, and terror crept into his heart.

Cullen grabbed his sword and sprinted in the direction Ellana had gone, not noticing the makeshift tourniquet coming loose and the blood running down his leg. He didn’t have to run very far.

Two bodies lay in the starlight. One of them had Ellana’s dagger still lodged in their throat, the handle he’d recognize anywhere, the other had an unfamiliar knife jutting from her chest, expertly placed between her ribs. Neither moved.

Cullen’s mind went completely blank, shut down, his movements becoming entirely automatic. 

Falling to his knees at her side, he carefully removed the dagger from her chest, an involuntary cry emerging from the back of his throat at the sickening noise it made. He lifted her off the ground and carried her back to their blanket, slipping occasionally on something wet. 

Setting her down gently, he lay next to her, the exhaustion overwhelming, and he held her against him, breathing her in one last time. Suddenly he was tired, so tired, and the sleep that so often eluded him finally came, and he welcomed it.

***

He awoke to someone rocking him gently by the shoulder, and he wiped the sleep from his eyes as he turned over. Ellana was lying next to him, beaming, trying to snuggle against him on their picnic blanket. They were by the lake, the sky even more brilliant with millions of stars. Disorientation set in, it felt as if he was waking to a dream.

“It’s time to wake up.”

Tears filled his eyes and spilled down his cheeks as he cradled her face. Something was different about her; even under the night sky, she seemed to glow, illuminated from within.

“Cullen, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?”

“I thought you were dead,” he rasped, nearly choking on the words. The terrible truth he knew began to rapidly fade, and he was so willing to forget.

She looked at him with pure love, a love he never thought he deserved, but he accepted gratefully, eternally. An overwhelming feeling of peace washed over him when she spoke, her voice Ellana's, but also something much more.

“We’re together, and that’s all that matters. Forever.”


End file.
